The $100,000 Grade III Iroquois Stakes September 6 at Churchill Downs is an interesting handicapping puzzle that features nine two-year old colts attempting to handle the mile and a sixteenth distance for the first time.
Mr. Z broke his maiden going six furlongs at Churchill June 28 before shipping to Saratoga where he recorded a pair of second place finishes in the Grade III Sanford and Grade II Saratoga Special. In both races, Mr. Z experienced troubled trips and projects as a horse that will appreciate more distance. With a bullet workout September 1 at Churchill (fastest of 67 runners, working four furlongs in 47 flat) in the holster, Mr. Z appears primed.
Hashtag Bourbon (4/1) is the lone stakes winner in the field as he dominated the Mountaineer Juvenile field by four lengths August 2 in West Virginia. That race, however, was at six furlongs and like Mr. Z, Hastag Bourbon will need to prove his ability to race around two turns. As a son of 2010 Kentucky Derby Winner Super Saver, pedigree is in Hashtag Bourbon’s favor. Trainer Kellyn Gorder connects with 20% of his starters making the move from sprint to route.
Maiden special weight winner, Bold Conquest (4/1 ML), is another stretch-out sprinter with a distance-oriented pedigree. The Steve Asmussen trainee is a son of 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin, who won the Breeder’s Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup and the Jockey Club Gold Cup -all at a mile and a quarter.
The race offers 50-20-10-5 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to the top four finishers. That 50-point bonanza to the winner means whoever crosses the wire first is virtually guaranteed a spot in the Kentucky […]
The field is set for the 2019 Preakness Stakes, and looking at the 13 rivals on paper is enough to make any serious handicapper's mouth water. There's simply a ton of betting value here.
Post positions have been drawn, and the oddsmakers have instilled Omaha Beach as the morning line favorite for the running of the 145th Kentucky Derby. The race goes Saturday, May 4th, with 20 runners set to battle 1 1/4 miles on the Churchill Downs dirt track, chasing a purse of $3 million and the first leg of the US Triple Crown.
The defending champ is back in the field for the 2016 Arlington Million on Saturday, but he's being overshadowed by a strong group of foreign invaders.
Newgrange Imposing in the Rebel
25 February 2022Oaklawn Park features the most lucrative spur of the Kentucky Derby trail. Their three-year-old series is back in action on Saturday, February 26 with the Rebel Stakes. The $1,000,000 horse race drew a field of eleven three-year-old...
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